Lessons About The Dentist

Ok, I think I’m ready to talk about the dentist. First thing’s first, I really hate the dentist, and it didn’t result from this last 4 sets of visits I just had in the past month, but I have always just disliked the notion of going to the dentist. The sounds of drilling, the idea of cavities, fillings, dental tools invading your mouth and you can do nothing about it…ugh, I hate the dentist (and to be clear also, the dentists I’ve had were really really nice people too).

So anyways, I still hate the dentist. Another thing I hate is taking care of my teeth. The 10 minute process it takes to floss between every tooth, then you have mouthwash, and you have to brush your teeth…twice a day, every day no less! Seriously, who wants to spend that kind of time doing that?

One thing I LOVE is eating junk food. I have a sweet tooth like nobody’s business. Skittles, chocolate, Peanut M&M’s, cake, cookies, cupcakes, ice cream. You name it, I probably love it (except jujubees and black licorice…gross).

So anyways, between all 3 things above, I skipped going to the dentist for about 5 years and did the minimum…brush my teeth twice a day. BIG MISTAKE. You live and learn, you pay the price for your negligence…holy crap. I went to the dentist to find out I needed a lot of fixes to my mouth. Fixes that were listed as the following:

Now here is the thing, you never really know if your dentist is just trying to cheat you, or freak you out into getting something severe to fix something minor (or major)…but with me, I’ve had such a bad history of teeth that I was pretty sure they were right…(well, the RSP is really up in the air for me, but I did it anyways, better safe than sorry as I move forward). So IF you ever have the dentist (especially on your first checkup) tell you that you need some of this stuff, think about a few things:

1-Do I trust this dentist?

2-What is the severity of this work? Do you need it NOW or can it wait? Is it borderline?

3-Will they work with you on costs if you don’t have insurance?

4-Do they treat you like some jackass from Jiffy Lube (once a guy there insisted that “if I cared for my car, I would get this service” and I said no and left because he was an ass).

5-Do you want a second opinion? (If your dentist freaks that you want this, probably don’t trust the dentist…you are always entitled to get another opinion…and dentists are supposed to give you a copy of your perio-chart if you ask for it…though some may charge you).

This is probably TMI on my teeth, but I am just saying this to people in case they know people (or their kids) who are like “screw the dentist, it’s been years since I went” and you better warn them to take care of their teeth before half it their teeth are porcelain!!!! I have been kicking myself this last month over something I should’ve already been doing for years. My new (well old, my parents have been on me about this for years) regimen is now: